


Warmth

by BeaRyan



Series: Tropes for The 100 [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Huddling For Warmth, Tropes, forced to share a bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-30
Updated: 2014-11-30
Packaged: 2018-02-27 12:34:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2693162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeaRyan/pseuds/BeaRyan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dystopian governments inevitably lead to bedsharing and huddling together for warmth.  For Raven and Wick, there could be an up side to crashing to Earth with an inadequate blanket supply.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Warmth

It was past ten and she’d violated curfew to get out, but the snoring in the women’s quarters had destroyed any chance of sleep. Raven thought she might as well get something done, and sneaking across the camp had given her a pleasantly subversive feeling. She needed the security Camp Jaha provided now that she couldn’t run, but it came at a price. 

Wick was wrapped in a blanket and hunched over the workbench when Raven came into engineering. “Too cold to sleep?” she asked. 

He just noded, engrossed in his design, and she quickly crossed the room to see what sort of trouble he was making for her now. She snaked a hand through the opening in the front of the scratchy blanket he had wrapped around him and pulled the design tablet from his reluctant hands. She'd like to be nice - he'd been kind to her - but the bone deep chill of the last week had frozen any social skills she’d ever bothered with. She'd padded her brace to keep the icy metal further from her skin, but it still hurt. Everything hurt; she was hungry and cold and hadn't slept well in too long. There was no where to go and she missed the companionship of The 100, and maybe, just maybe, Wick had figured out how to solve at least one problem. He could hand over the damn tablet for a minute. 

She flipped through the pages. They looked needlessly complicated and yet somehow still comfortingly familiar. "Is this a steam engine?" 

He grinned, conspiratorially and victorious. "Yes."

"Why?" 

"They told me to build a water pump. They didn't tell me I couldn't power it like it was 1698."

"I can think of nine simpler designs," she countered. "And I'm not an engineer." 

"Do any of your designs generate heat?" 

"We'll still need water pumped in the summer when we don't need heat."

"We'll still need sterilized water to drink in the summer. This way we get the water pumped and distilled with the bonus of heat in the winter. Dry meat on it in the summer, whatever, I don't care. Just give me some feeling back in my toes now." He smiled so broadly his eyes creased at the corners as he took his plans back from her and went over them again. Sinclair would know exactly what he was doing, cheating so they could stop freezing, but it solved the problem Engineering had been ordered to address. 

"It's not bad," she admitted, hesitating only slightly. She knew Wick tended towards enthusiasm and sometimes missed the obvious. There was a reason he was still Sinclair's apprentice instead of a full engineer. She tried tearing his idea apart, spotting the holes and how to fix them like she always did, and finally found the error. She tried to tell him, but he didn’t seem to care.

He grinned, swung wide his arms and stepped forward, stopping only a few inches from her and wrapped them both in his blanket. "Warm, Raven. We're going to be warm again."

She fought the urge to lean against him. She was warmer now than she'd been a minute ago and if she just closed the distance between them she could pull the heat directly from his body. Conduction transfer would trump the hell out of radiation right now. "Tablet, Wick. Just give me the tablet." 

He kept one arm around her, holding closed the edges of the blanket that enveloped them, but used the other to hand over his tablet. She took it and used it to wedge more space between them. "Here," she pointed. "This valve is backwards." 

"So flip it." 

She poked at the screen, modifying his design, and went over it again. "Where do you plan to get a recapture chamber that large?" 

"I know a great mechanic. She can knock one out with some scrap metal."

She glared at him. "You've confused 'mechanic' with 'factory station.'"

"We tried to get some people of every station in each pod on the way down, but only four people from factory station made it to the ground. Security has them busy with weapons. If you want heat we're going to have to build a tank. I'll help, but I'm a really lousy welder." 

Raven stared up at the shaggy blond and let her eyes linger on the long hairs curling towards his ear. He was Finn all over again - impulsive, passionate, bright-eyed and optimistic. For better or worse, she had a type. At least Wick knew his limits and he let people pull him back. He’d never lied to her, never reworked the facts just to make himself feel better. "Get Sinclair to approve it in the morning and we'll get to work." 

"We could get to work now," he said. 

"This build is going to be loud and everyone is asleep." She gave his hand a slight brush as she took the tablet from him and laid it on the table. "It's a good design, clever, but we can’t start until morning." 

He closed the slight distance between them and pulled her against him, hugging her with the same jovial energy he always had. Raven's breath caught at the touch - finally someone was reaching for her after she'd tried and failed to grab others - and she reminded herself that he was like this with everyone. 

"A compliment from Raven Reyes," he whispered into her ear. "Earth really is full of wonders." 

Raven's pulse quickened and she told her body to cool it. It was just Wick. “We should get some sleep. This is going to be a big job." 

Wick loosened his hold on her and moved only far enough away that he could look at her as he spoke. "Did you bring a blanket or are you headed home?" 

"Crap." 

Wick chuckled at her frustration and she gave him a gentle punch in the arm, using the language of Mecha to let him know that he was an ass even if he was her friend. 

"I'll share, but I'm not freezing my balls off because you didn't bring the tools you need. Aren't you supposed to be a Zero G rockstar? Where are your planning skills?" 

"I planned to work and I didn't ask you to share." 

"I did the work and I know you'd freeze before you'd ask. Come on. We'll hit the cot and with shared heat we might be warm enough to get some rest. This project is going to be huge. Just salvaging the piping is going to take half the day."

She stared across the room and weighed her options. She'd counted on the equipment in engineering giving off enough heat that she'd be able to work on wiring, but they'd turned off almost everything to save energy. It was so cold her fingers would soon be numb. She'd have been better off if she'd stayed in the sleeping quarters. With ten bodies to a room it was loud, but they could build up some warmth in the air, at least until someone opened a door. Curling up against Wick, into the solid heat of him, was dangerously appealing. She was comfortable here in the combined Mecha and Engineering office. The smell of fuel samples, engine oil, and Wick's own familiar scent felt as like home. Could she really spend the night with Wick? 

How long had she known him now? Ten years? He was already working in Engineering when she’d become a junior apprentice in Mecha. He was a decent guy, for an engineer anyway, but she’d never really noticed him as a man, instead of just a coworker, until recently. 

"Do you need a hand?" he asked quietly. 

_Yes. Sliding down my back, wrapped in my hair, working the button on my pants. _Aloud she only managed, "Huh?"__

__He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her to him, lifting her off the floor just a few inches like they were both clumsy children and hauling her across the room to the cot._ _

__"Wick, what the hell?"_ _

__"What what the hell?" he asked, seemingly genuinely confused._ _

__"What was that?"_ _

__"You weren't moving. I figured your leg was bugging you."_ _

__Raven didn't answer. Let him think that. It was better than admitting the truth. She sat on the edge of the cot, slipping out of the warmth of the blanket and his arms as she did it, and shuddered at the sudden shock of the cold. Quickly she undid the straps of her brace and used her arms to haul her leg onto the cot so she could lie down. She was grateful for the brace - it gave her more freedom than she'd had before - but to be supportive it had to be uncomfortably tight. It chafed in warm weather and the metal seemed to hold the cold now that the season had changed. Many nights, when the woods seemed too close and the sounds of the animals in them felt like a threat, she left it on. Tonight though, she needed a break from it. She struggled to find the right expression, one that would tell Wick she was fine and he just needed to get his ass and his blanket on the cot so she could go to sleep. Judging from the look he gave her, she failed, but he lay down next to her and covered them both quickly._ _

__"So do you want to be the big spoon or the little spoon?" he asked._ _

___I want you to cover me with your body like you'll ever get enough of me. _She was so screwed. When had her mind flipped on Wick? He was one of the guys, a goofball, a pain in her ass, kind but careless, smart but prone to bouts of independent action that would have gotten him floated if Sinclair had let him out in public more often. He was a smarter, older version of Finn, and things had been so close to right with Finn. Their hearts and bodies had connected, but there had been a short in the wiring between them.__ _ _

____Wick was here, similar but so different, a fresh start but still not unknown. And his shirt smelled like engine grease. She breathed in deeply through her nose, savoring the familiar comfort of it and trying to think of gears and motors instead of the size of his hands and the fact that she'd never kissed a man with a moustache._ _ _ _

____"Oh, God, sorry," he muttered and she felt him shifting beside her, his hands digging around in his pants near her waist. Quickly they reemerged and he popped a leaf in his mouth and began to chew. He held one out to her with an offering nod, and she took it and chewed it, grimacing as the sharp tang of the mint hit her tongue._ _ _ _

____He swallowed and then began mumbling. "Is it OK? You didn't say anything so I guess you want face to face and I'm here breathing in your face."_ _ _ _

____She cut him off. "It's fine, Wick. Thoughtful. We should get some sleep."_ _ _ _

____He nodded in agreement and reached above them to turn off the lights._ _ _ _

____Thirty minutes later, Raven's body was beginning to ache from holding one position so stiffly for so long and she tried to release the tension in her muscles, letting a stretch slowly uncurl down her back. She heard a small groan from Wick, and when her stretch reached her hips, bucking them slightly towards him as she tried to work the kink out of her overtired body, she felt why. She giggled as she pressed against the telltale bulge in his pants._ _ _ _

____"Oh shut up," he muttered. "You know you're hot."_ _ _ _

____"I know it. I didn't know you knew it."_ _ _ _

____"I know you think I'm an idiot, but even the dimmest kid in the hundred can effectively analyze basic physical appeal. Symmetry, health, intelligence, determination. You're a more than adequate human female."_ _ _ _

____"More than adequate. Thanks."_ _ _ _

____"I can't win here, Raven. What do you want from me?"_ _ _ _

____He was right. She could let him off the hook, call it biology and ignore it, or she could push him to admit that it was personal. She wasn't cruel by nature, and if she wasn't going to admit her own attraction then there was no reason to force a confession from him. "Get some sleep, Wick."_ _ _ _

____"Yeah."_ _ _ _

____They both shifted then, Wick rolling over so his back was to her and Raven settling around him so her thighs wrapped behind his. Aligned like this, her face was in the middle of his back and she could see the edges of his shoulder blades where his shirt was pulled taut across them. She'd never taken the time to consider his size before, but now he seemed huge. Finn had had a few inches on her, both in height and breadth, but not enough that she'd really noticed. Wick's body was imposing, a head taller than hers and she wasn't sure she could wrap her arms all the way around his shoulders if she tried._ _ _ _

____When he seemed to be asleep, she let her hand slide along his arm, exploring the curves of his biceps and forearms. He didn't have the wiry muscles of youth like Finn or the lean, hard lines of a bad life like Bellamy. He was built like an engineer and his body was practical, functional, and mature, but not unappealing. His skin was soft, not yet weathered by the harsh realities of the ground, and she wondered how her hands, covered in cracks and calluses, felt to him._ _ _ _

____"Raven, I am trying to sleep. Like you told me to."_ _ _ _

____"Sorry," she muttered as she scooted further up his body and away from the stupidly broad expanse of his back. Dirty hair had never been a turn-on. She'd be safe if she was up by his neck. His hair - dammit he needed a haircut - curled and twisted towards her in an unruly mess and she blew out a quick hard breath to get it out of her way._ _ _ _

____Wick shuddered in response. "Sleeping here," he said in a voice that sounded a long way from sleep._ _ _ _

____Raven caught a wiff of something familiar, something chemical but not something she worked with, and asked, "What were you doing today?"_ _ _ _

____"Boiler pump," he answered._ _ _ _

____"Before that. Your hair smells like tower three."_ _ _ _

____She felt the rumble of a laugh as it move through Wick, but he held back the sound. The gentle vibrations of his body against hers taunted her. "My hair smells like the CO2 scrubbers. I got homesick and was messing around with them. Remember when we were all going to die from oxygen deprivation instead of slowly bleeding to death? Those were the days."_ _ _ _

____She gave a brief snort of laughter and then planted a quick, comforting kiss on his neck. She'd expected to die in a zero G accident, probably something related to depressurization, but she knew that she wasn't the norm. "I'm sure the fine folks at Mount Weather can find a place for a man who can bring breathable air to a place where it doesn't belong."_ _ _ _

____"Do that again," he said._ _ _ _

____"Do what?"_ _ _ _

____"Compliment me and kiss me."_ _ _ _

____"Not all your designs suck, Wick." She hesitated at the kiss, but they were just playing, right? She planted a quick kiss on the back of his neck and lost the battle to keep her tongue from darting out to taste the salt of his skin and the aerosolized oil of the machinery that lingered on it. Machine oil shouldn't be erotic, but fuck it, she was a mechanic and she liked what she liked._ _ _ _

____"You're killing me, Reyes," he said._ _ _ _

____"Was that my compliment?" she asked. "It lacked precision and a kiss.” She paused and considered how far she wanted to take this. They were still playing. She could still back out. “Usually your schematics have enough detail to give me a good starting point." He groaned again and she slid a hand around him, running her palm over his chest. Really, how had she never noticed what a big man he was? She heard his frustrated response, a primal sound between a groan and a curse, and felt the thrill of power run through her. She ran her teeth over his skin as she kissed the back of his neck again, this time toying with the edge of his shirt, pushing past the flimsy fabric line that marked the end of playing and the beginning of something else. "Your move, Wick."_ _ _ _

____"I'm not moving until you tell me how many bases I'm getting."_ _ _ _

____"Bases?"_ _ _ _

____"Bases, Raven. First, second, third. Bases."_ _ _ _

____She swallowed hard. He’d punted the rule book and ruined the game. "None. You're an engineer. Work around it."_ _ _ _

____He rolled over towards her then and pulled her against him, only briefly indulging in a glance down her shirt. "Raven, I... need more information."_ _ _ _

____She bit her lip and met his stare. "Like what?"_ _ _ _

____"I can't tell if you want to make-out like teenagers or fuck like we're about to die."_ _ _ _

____"Oh." Her chest constricted and her eyes darted around the room. She wanted to run, but her damn brace was on the other side of Wick. On her list of embarrassing mistakes, this was way up there. Wick? Wick! What the hell was she thinking._ _ _ _

____"I don't know how to deal with you when you're afraid," he said._ _ _ _

____He wouldn't have to, she thought. Fear turned to anger and anger shoved at his chest, pushing him away from her, cold be damned, and moving him onto his back so she could crawl over him and get to her brace. She fell to the floor as she reached for it, landing hard on her good knee, but she needed to be somewhere other than here as soon as possible._ _ _ _

____"Raven," he said, pulling on her shoulder as he did it._ _ _ _

____"Leave me alone, Wick."_ _ _ _

____"No," he said. "Too late. Cat's out of the box. I like you. You like me. All I need is some information on the settings. Give me a speed and a goal, but this project isn't over."_ _ _ _

____"People aren't projects, Wick."_ _ _ _

____"You sure as hell are."_ _ _ _

____"What's that supposed to mean?"_ _ _ _

____"It means I can make breathable air from a bunch of random compounds and I can turn sludge into water, but I can't keep you from running out into the night to get shot by the guard. We're under curfew, Raven. You're stuck with me for another couple of hours. I asked you how you want to spend them and you're yelling at me."_ _ _ _

____"Maybe because I don't know, OK? I have no idea what I'm doing."_ _ _ _

____"So we need to dial it down? Fine. Problem defined. Solution identified. Back on the cot."_ _ _ _

____Her voice was pleading when she spoke and all she managed was his name, a lilting question and more uncertainty than she knew how to face. "Wick?"_ _ _ _

____"We’ll settle down, OK? Your head on my shoulder, no spooning, no more roaming hands, and we just go to sleep. For real this time."_ _ _ _

____"Can we just do that?" she asked. She knew how to ignore things - she'd boxed up and put away parts of her life with both Finn and Bellamy - but she wasn't sure she wanted to this time._ _ _ _

____"Not have sex tonight? Yeah, I can manage that."_ _ _ _

____"Pretend this never happened?"_ _ _ _

____"Why would we do that?"_ _ _ _

____She paused before answering, weighing how much she wanted to say. "This is complicated. I'm complicated."_ _ _ _

____"We're literally rocket scientists, Raven. I think we can handle it. If you want to."_ _ _ _

____She nodded almost imperceptibly and gestured vaguely to her leg, "I need a hand."_ _ _ _

____"I have two," he answered, offering one to her so she could leverage herself off the floor and back on to the cot to sit beside him. He quickly wrapped the blanket around her and pulled her towards him so she leaned against his side. "Of course I did just say I was going to keep them to myself. You're right. You are a complicated woman, Reyes."_ _ _ _

____"You already knew that," she pointed out._ _ _ _

____He adjusted his grip on the blanket, closing the gap in the front to keep them both fully covered. Her eyes lingered on his lips, and she’d never noticed before that there were so many shades of blond and brown hidden in his moustache, a prairie where she’d thought there was just some scruff._ _ _ _

____“I’m lost again, Raven.”_ _ _ _

____She met his eyes and quickly looked away. He was all earth and gold, solid but reckless. He was a mistake she knew she was going to make._ _ _ _

____He said, “You look like you want to kiss me and we just decided to turn down the speed.”_ _ _ _

____“What’s one more kiss?”_ _ _ _

____“We haven’t kissed yet at all. You played at making me squirm, did a damn fine job of it, but we haven’t kissed.”_ _ _ _

____“Do you want to kiss me?”_ _ _ _

____“From top to bottom and back up again,” he said with a grin. “But I want to stay out of your discard pile even more, so I guess you’re going to have to wait for it.”_ _ _ _

____He lay down and patted his shoulder, gesturing for her to rest her head there. When she did and they’d both made the small adjustments that let them find comfort as they snuggled together, affectionately but less sensually than before, he kissed her forehead gently. “Goodnight, Raven.”_ _ _ _

____“Goodnight, Wick.”_ _ _ _

____A sudden burst of laughter from him made her head bounce as his chest moved. “Sinclair is going to have a fit when he comes in in the morning and sees us like this.”_ _ _ _

____“What do we tell him?”_ _ _ _

____“We tell him the sooner we have heat the sooner we can stop huddling together to avoid freezing to death.”_ _ _ _

____His answer held a practical weight that crushed the air out of her chest. “Is that what we’re doing?” she asked._ _ _ _

____“I have no idea what we’re doing, Raven, but I think it could be great and I’m not planning to be done doing it any time soon whether we have heat or not.”_ _ _ _

____Raven pulled at the answer as she tried to drift off to sleep. There wasn’t much to what he’d said, but he’d been honest. Honest uncertainty and a desire to try for something wasn't a bad foundation._ _ _ _

____"Wick?"_ _ _ _

____"Yeah."_ _ _ _

____"Me, too."_ _ _ _

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are always appreciated and welcome.


End file.
